


A Frozen Sea

by StFrancisdeSales



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Death, Friendship, Mermaids, Murder, merfolk, mermaid, subtle shipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2017-12-21
Packaged: 2019-02-17 21:02:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13085298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StFrancisdeSales/pseuds/StFrancisdeSales
Summary: Jamie wasn't the first non-Guardian to see Jack Frost. He has never spoken about that time, not even to his good friend, Hiccup. Until now...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry to all the Hijjack shippers. Couldn't bring myself to write romance for my sister's Christmas present. Lots of space for your imagination, though.

Dark waves crash against the sharp angle of bleak cliffs. A pair of squat statues, carved from cliff shards into roaring faces, mouths full of fire, stand guard over a village. Built on, into the sides of, and over the green-kissed rocky cliffs, Berk appeared much more colorful than it once had. Wooden ledges, perches, and shelters clustered around the steeply roofed buildings painted in vibrant green, orange, and red. No surface in this cold and damp hamlet seemed level. Everything was angles, jagged edges, and craggy rocks.

The sun glinted gold off the water as Hiccup sauntered with his slightly lopsided gait out of a house near the center of Berk. Stretching, an early morning breeze rustling his dark brown hair, he rubbed both hands over a face beginning to show a dark shadow of stubble.

“Looks like it's going to be another beautiful day here in B-”

His words ended in a grunt as a moving patch of darkness shot out of the house and flattened Hiccup in mid-sentence. He struggled to turn and look at his attacker, but black claws had sunk deep into the ground on either side of him and Toothless’s head was pinning his shoulders. The Night Fury was stretched full length and sighed as if settling down for a nap.

“T-Toothless...!” The name came out an insubstantial wheeze, not much air remaining in the young man’s lungs. “Get... off...”

Giving a cough of rage, the dragon bounced up onto his tree trunk sized legs just long enough to flip his rider onto his back. Then he glared down at him.

“What is wrong with you, you flying menace to sanity,” Hiccup asked finally, staring up two enormous nostrils. Then he sighed, which he realized a second too late was a poor choice. “Upset I didn’t wake you... I’m sorry...”

The heavy dragon appeared unmoved. He certainly didn't budge as Hiccup struggled and pushed at his bulk. A large wet tongue flopped out of an even wetter mouth and tickled and human’s face.

“What’s the... oh! No!” The dragon rider protested. “No... don't! You just looked so cute! I didn’t have the heart to disturb your sleep.”

At these words, the dragon froze, then pushed off the ground with a casual sweep of his wings that nevertheless managed to slam the front door of their house, send a few nearby baskets tumbling, and divert the flight paths of a small flock of Terrible Terrors flitting by. He landed a few feet from the human and snarled, showing his teeth, then he tilted back his head and let loose several shots of his blue and crackling fire.

“Ok, ok,” said Hiccup, patting the air as he got to his feet. “Not cute, vicious and fearsome. Got it.”

Looking back down at the human, Toothless cocked a head at him and the dragon rider had to clap a hand over his mouth to keep from bursting out with laughter. The dragon’s lip curled and he was raising a paw to take a playful swipe at Hiccup when they heard a shout.

“Watch out!”

Starting, Toothless began to slide, sideways, down the hill. Sparkling and unexpected ice had appeared under his claws. He tried to scrabble at the slick surface, searching for purchase, but to no avail. Toppling onto his front, a resigned look on his face, the Night Fury slid back over the crest of the hill and out of sight.

Laughing, Hiccup looked around, and up. There he saw a familiar, hovering figure.

“Hello!” The dragon rider called, grinning.

A person, appearing to be in his middle teens, with silvery white hair, ragged brown pants, and no shoes, effected a mock bow to his friend.

“Hello!”

The newcomer had a matching grin as he alighted in front of Hiccup. He carried a staff, appearing to be made of ordinary wood, it shimmered with silvery frost.

“What are you doing here?” Said Hiccup.

“Oh you know me,” Jack said with a laugh, bringing his staff to rest on his shoulder, one hand in the pocket of the odd, blue garment he wore. “I just go wherever Wind takes me.”

A pair of black wings reappeared over the crest of the hill as Toothless used flight to evade the ice. He kicked at the ground and launched himself at Jack. The blue-clad young man sprang into the air once more and narrowly missed the extended claws.

“Toothless!” Hiccup called in exasperation.

Landing on his back, the dragon gave a snarl and rolled onto his feet. His tail lashed as he jumped and swatted, looking for all the world like a kitten swatting at a butterfly. Jack skimmed the rooftops and easily floated out of range, his merry laughter echoing back and forth across the rocks.

“Oh no you don't!” Hiccup said, laughing.

Darting back into the house, he soon reappeared with Toothless’s flying harness, his own thrown over his head. In record time, both dragon and rider were prepped and ready to go. They leapt into the air with a whoop from Hiccup and a shot of lightning from Toothless.

Seeing them coming, Jack began to dart away, propelled by the wind, but he was too late. Toothless soared up and scooped the wiry form from the air, hugging him to his chest with all four legs. Then the black wings folded with a snap and they were falling.

Issuing a sound that was half scream and half laughter, Jack pushed against the powerful dragon limbs without hope. Then, without warning, the wings snapped open again, sending all three hurtling forward and up. It was then that Toothless released his friend, sending him rocketing forward.

A howl of laughter echoed across the water to the dragon and rider, followed by a splash. Jack emerged from the sea almost immediately, shaking his head to get the sopping hair out of his eyes. He flew back toward the hovering pair.

“I should remember that trick by now,” said Jack, grinning.

He moved up and scratched Toothless behind his right eat. Immediately the wing beats slowed as the dragon’s eyes closed and his tongue lolled out of his mouth.

Hiccup yelped and yanked on the neck strap, though the dragon’s heavy head didn't rise an inch. The motion made the large, iridescent green eyes pop open and Toothless propelled them back to Jack’s height with an effortless flap.

The floating immortal fell in beside his friends in a gentle flying pace.

“It's so beautiful,” said Jack, lounging back in the wind and idly sending a stream of frost from his staff that left a long chunk of ice as they passed above the ocean.

Blinking, Hiccup shook his head as though to clear it, then stared around as though seeing everything for the first time.

“It really is,” he said, after a moment. “I guess I fly over so often I forgot to really see it.”

As Jack smiled, the sound of splashing and voices below met their ears. Looking down, all three could see the water was broken by a group of heads and a few arms.

“I didn't know your village liked to swim,” the white-haired flying boy said.

“It's no one from Berk,” said Hiccup, frowning down at the sparkling water. “Oh, I know who it is. There was a gossip of merfolk migrating by Berk. That must be them. I wonder if they’d let me make a sketch...”

Flying lower, Hiccup could see more details, the hair streaming out from the heads bobbing in the waves and floating like clouds in the water, the flash of a scale as a merperson brought their tail up toward the surface.

“They’re really quite friendly,” said the one-day ruler of Berk.

Toothless’s head turned and he looked around. It was only then that Hiccup realized he was flying alone. Looking up, he saw that Jack had gained more height and was looking down at the gossip. He was clutching his staff and resting his head against it. Wide blue eyes stared almost unseeingly.

Gesturing with one hand, the dragon rider tried to encourage the frosty figure to join him. After a moment he realized it would not happen. Urging Toothless up, they joined Jack.

“Come on!” Said the brown-haired young man. “They're friendly, I swear.”

There was no response from Jack, whose eyes were still fixed below with an expression Hiccup couldn't identify.

“Jack?”

“What?”

The response was as quick and sharp as the crack of ice. Toothless’s head rose from gazing down into the sparkling water to stare, head cocked, up at the blue-clad boy.

“You go if you want,” said Jack, his voice glistened with frost. “You're not  _ my _ chief. You can't order me around.”

“I... didn't?” Said Hiccup, his voice breaking and confused. “If you don't want to just-”

“Go on,” said the white-haired boy, waving a hand at the dragon rider, his eyes never leaving the water and the group of bobbing heads. “I don't care. But I'm leaving.”

Turning, and seeming to wrench his gaze from the scene in the water, Jack began to fly off, away from Berk, the merfolk, and Hiccup.

“Wait!”

Toothless soared up, after the retreating figure, borne on the wind. The moving air buffeted them both.

“Jack! Wait!” Hiccup called. “What's wrong?”

“What's wrong with  _ you _ ?” Was the sharp retort, then Jack put on a burst of speed and was soon a vanishing pinprick on the horizon.

Pulling Toothless up to hover in mid-air, Hiccup stared off into the horizon. He was at a loss to understand what could have happened. Had he offended Jack in some way?

“What did I say?” He asked Toothless.

The dragon’s response was to glare off at the point where the frosty visitor had vanished and growl low in his throat. It couldn't have been clearer he considered his rider blameless.


	2. Chapter 2

The hand clenched around his staff was growing numb by the time Jack finally stopped flying. By that time he was in the open ocean with no clue what direction he'd been flying or where the nearest landmass was. It didn't matter to him. As the sunset and the waves darkened, he couldn't even see them.

 

Jack Frost stared into the past...

 

 

 

_The little girl who had been his sister had grown into a strong and capable woman. Having no reason to leave, Jack haunted the village for decades. He watched as she matured. The pain of being so close and still unable to speak with his family was obscured by something he noticed six months after his... death._

_A peddler had come to town to sell trinkets. He could also juggle. A small crowd gathered around him to watch his antics, including Jack and his sister. As the peddler tossed the balls back and forth, up and down, he pretended to miss them and they all fell to the ground. Almost before he realized it, Jack joined in the laughter of the crowd._

_As he did, he glanced down at his sister a habit he had and still hadn't given up. Her face was like stone. She stared at the peddler, taking in everything, but there was no merriment in her large eyes, no quirk to the small lips. This companion of so many games could no longer see the fun, without her big brother._

_Knowing it had been barely half a year since he fell through the ice, Jack told himself that she would heal in time. He kept faith with this thought through spring and summer. And still there was no laugh or smile from the small girl._

_As the years went by, Jack saw his mother die. His hand passed right through hers as he tried to reach out to her, one last time. He knew she blamed herself for his death and he needed her to know that it wasn't true._

_As they dug the grave and held a ceremony over the plain pine box, Jack swooped low, removed the cape she had so carefully sewn for him, and placed it over where he knew she rested. It fell past the wood and out of sight. Forever after Jack always told himself it was keeping her warm, wherever she was._

_Watching his mother’s remaining child grow became less painful one summer a year after she married. Though the mother still did not smile or laugh, Jack recognized his own fun-loving streak in her firstborn son. However, the immortal’s joy turned to ashes when he saw she made this connection as well. Her eyes filled with tears and she placed the baby down, turning away._

_This boy grew up strong, but always with a puzzlement about what he could do to win his mother’s approval or laughter. Sometimes she would pat him on the head, just as her mother used to do, and give a sad smile. Jack’s nephew moved away on his 18th birthday to escape the phantoms that lived in the shadows around his family._

_When, many years later, Jack finally stood beside a mound of earth and a wooden cross bearing his sister's name, he came to realize something he had buried as well. It was time to move on._

_Knowing it was the moon who had been there from the beginning, Jack tried again to get him to speak. It worked just as well as the hundreds of other times he’d tried. He might as well try talking to the wind, at least that was more fun._

_Disappointed and with a loneliness so dark it threatened to overwhelm him, Jack Frost flew from the village where he had been born. He saw miles melt away beneath his dangling feet. With no idea where he was going, he never knew where exactly he’d found the lake._

_It was quite small, for a body of water. Although humanity had begun to spread even to the wildest and coldest parts of the world now, there were no humans around. Feeling tired of flying, he perched in a tree, whose leaves had begun to turn orange and red for fall, and stared down into the dark water._

_“Hello there!”_

_Without warning or even a ripple in the smooth surface of the water, a head shot out and spoke. Water ran down the pale woman’s face and from her hair. Her arms and hands beat the water and below that Jack caught a flash of something shiny._

_Jumping back, the troubled immortal caught himself on the branch behind him and stared, his mouth falling open._

_“Y-you can see me? Hear me?”_

_“Of course I can see you, silly boy,” giggled the apparition, playing with a yellow leaf floating nearby. “Why, were you trying to hide?”_

_“No!” Jack almost shouted, relief flooding him so fast he felt lightheaded. “No! I just... Most people can't see me.”_

_“Ah,” the woman said, knowledgeably. “You meant humans, didn't you?”_

_“Well...” Jack hesitated, his head still swimming with this discovery. “What else is there?”_

_“What else?” The floating woman looked charmingly incredulous. “Me.”_

_With that she dived, but instead of revealing equally pallid legs, a powerful and beautifully scaled green and blue tail emerged. Jack gaped as the warm sunlight glinted off the scales and at how effortlessly it propelled her through the water. Circling around, she put on a burst of speed, just below the surface, then raised a hand and waved at him, her arm sending a spectacular spray of water into the air._

_“And you,” she concluded, finishing her display and coming to rest her arms on a fallen tree._

_“Me?” Asked Jack, still grinning from what he'd just witnessed. “What about me?”_

_“Well, you're not human either,” she said. “Not really.”_

_Opening his mouth, Jack began to form an objection, then fell silent. Frowning, he glanced away from the puzzling creature and down... toward his staff._

_“I can see the little wheels turning in your head,” she laughed, smoothing her thick, wet hair. “What's your name, floaty boy?”_

_“Jack. Jack Frost,” said the confused immortal. “But I still don't get why-”_

_“Why the bothersome humans can't see you?” She asked, looking up at him through long eyelashes._

_“Yes!” Jack burst out, relief washing over him. At last he was about to get some answers._

_“It's very simple,” she said, beginning to braid a fragment of floating weed into her tresses. “They - the humans - all hate us and want to kill us. Anyone who is different. That's why we can naturally slide out of their sight.”_

_Nodding, Jack sat back to think. It all made sense now, why everyone just walked through him, couldn't hear him. A slight smile curled his lips and he looked back to the creature in the water._

_“So if you're not a human,” he asked, settling himself on the lakeside, “what are you?”_

_The half human instantly forgot her braiding and gaped at her visitor._

_“You don't know?” She asked, then giggled, hiding her mirth ineffectually behind her hand. “Silly, silly floaty boy.”_

_“Hey!” Jack protested, his grin slipping slightly. “I am not silly.”_

_“You are if you don't know what I am,” she retorted. “Everyone knows of my kind. We have mesmerized humanity for thousands of years. Well...” she faltered and looked thoughtful. “The men at least,” she finished, with a wicked grin._

_“Well why don't you tell me then!” Said Jack, beginning to grow tired of this creature’s speeches._

_“I will. Because it would be a terrible tragedy if you were to leave here without knowing.”_

_With this pronouncement she abandoned her braiding, pushed off from the log, and dove back into the water. With a few powerful movements of her tail, she disappeared into the dark water._

_Jack waited, not knowing what else to do. Then the water burst upward. The sarcastic creature he’d been talking to sprang into the air, her tail curving artistically out to one side. For the first time he could see her completely and he had to admit she was a beautiful sight. The scales on her tail shone an iridescent combination of greens and blues, and sparkled like a field of freshly fallen snow._

_When she fell back, she executed a graceful dive back into the water. Surfacing again she smiled at Jack._

_“I am a mermaid. You may call me Tora Mazzal.”_

_“Wow,” Jack said, awe in his tone and on his face._

_“And what are you?” She asked, after a pause._

_“Jack Frost,” he said, his brow furrowing slightly. “I just told you a few-”_

_“No, no!” Tora interrupted, rolling her eyes. “Not your name._ What _you are.”_

_“I'm-”_

_Hesitating, Jack considered his words. He'd been about to say he was human, but that just didn't seem right anymore. He was, after all, a ‘floaty boy’. And she didn't even know the full extent of his powers._

_“Let me show you,” he said, finally, grinning._

_Leaping into the air, he began dancing along tree branches and across the tops of brush. Wherever he touched the staff he left silver and glittering trails of frost. Curling out and around from the staff, the tendrils of cold decorated every leaf and twig, every branch and trunk._

_Lifting the staff into the air, he caused a shower of sparkling snowflakes to fall. The fragments of crystal ice fluttered slowly through the air until they reached the water where they melted and vanished._

_The mermaid, forgetting to pose picturesquely, stared at the display, one hand suspended, about to caress her hair. Her eyes followed Jack and she gave a delighted laugh as the snow fell._

_“My word,” she said, as he came back to crouch on the bank. “That was really something. Can you do anything else?”_

_“Yes!”_

_Leaping up, the bare feet scurried out across the lake, and where the staff touched, the dark water was instantly halted in its lapping of the shore. Jack turned, joining more ice to the first swathe. As he did, he forgot to use the wind’s power to float him over the surface. One foot brushed the new-made ice._

_It all happened in an instant, but seemed to take a week as Jack watched. Trying to catch himself from falling, he flung out his right hand, and the staff. A shimmering bolt of frost shot from it and hit the water near the mer on-looker. She laughed, thinking this more grandiose displays for her enjoyment. Then her eyes bulged as she saw the ice racing toward her. It surrounded her and began to creep up her torso._

_Instinctively, she tried to plunge into the water, her domain. The ice had caught her fast, however. Next she tried to push up and away from the growing ice, shoving desperately at the now solid water._

_Tears stung Jack’s eyes as he saw her turn away from this futile struggle and reach out. That was where she stayed, arm extended his way, every inch covered in beautiful, glittering frost. Her eyes, cold and empty, stared, pleading, across the water at him._

_Flying across, he perched on the ice and tried desperately to free this new friend from his accidental frozen prison. He tried to breathe warm air onto her face as he'd done to his hands so many times. That was before... whatever had happened to him, however. He only succeeded in adding another layer of frost to her features._

_Later, Jack never knew how long, he found himself curled up on the bank, sobbing, staring at the first being to acknowledge his presence since he'd died. He stared all night, watching as natural frost mingled with the traces of his magic in the moonlight._

_Then he'd flown off, just as the sun was rising, unable to bear the sight a moment longer. Jack kept his eyes averted from the sinking moon as well._

_For many days thereafter he'd refused to use his staff, almost hating it as the cause of the tragedy. Once he'd even thrown it away from himself, but a gust of wind caught it and threw it back. That had been the first time since the accident that Jack had smiled. He realized he couldn't throw away who he was._

_After that he went back to using his powers and tried to forget the look on that frozen face. He traveled the world, bringing snow and ice unexpectedly and joyfully._

_Though try as he might, Jack Frost never truly forgot what had happened that day by the lake..._


	3. Chapter 3

As the tiny, vanishing dot that was Jack disappeared on the horizon, Toothless looked up and around at the human on his back. Hiccup frowned and replayed, in his head, the conversation that has just taken place between Jack and himself. The chief’s son could not understand what had just happened.

Jack was not normally like this. For all the time Hiccup had known him, the immortal had never been far from a laugh or a joke. Something was clearly different and the dragon rider had no way of discovering what it was. Fast though the dragon was, the brown haired young man doubted whether Toothless could catch the wind.

“Your guess is as good as mine, bud,” the human answered his dragon’s unspoken question. “There's nothing we can do, though. Do you want to go visit the merpeople anyway?”

For answer, Toothless dove from his hovering position toward the shore, far below. Despite the recent troubling conversation with Jack, Hiccup smiled and steered the flying reptile through the skies. They alighted on the rocky beach of the ocean and from this distance could now make out the sea dragons that were the merfolk’s mounts. As the closest dragon breached, it blew a wave of spray over the two landlocked observers. Hiccup groaned and shook his head, salt scented water flying in all directions.

Faces turned to watch the descent of the Night Fury, and a few hands raised as the merpeople recognized Hiccup. He waved, dismounted, and turned to Toothless’s saddle.

“I know you like to go swimming with them,” he said, yanking at straps. “So here, now you won't ruin the leather.”

In a short time the dragon was bereft of his flying gear and sprang forward, toward the water. Hiccup smiled again and carried the saddle close to the water. He sat down on it and watched Toothless spring in and out of the water, playing with the immense water dragons. Night Furies, it transpired, were nearly as graceful in water as they were in the air.

Most of the gossip of merfolk were too busy with their own business to bother with either the human or the dragon. One bobbing head moved closer, however, smiling as it drew near. The broad, good-natured, and deep tan face of a merman sprouted up out of the water. A casual flick of his golden tail allowed him to rest a well-muscled arm on the shore.

“Hello there,” he said, favouring Hiccup with a dazzling smile.

“Hello Neiro,” said the brown haired boy, attempting to smile.

“You appear troubled,” said the merman. “If I'm any judge of humans. All of you seem to do nothing but mope around all day long.”

“I'm not moping,” said Hiccup, with a touch of indignation. “I think what I am is... confused.”

“That's the other thing humans always seem to be,” put in Neiro, knowledgeably. “Confused.”

“Oh and I suppose your people never become confused?” Retorted the dragon rider, smiling.

“Hardly ever,” returned the splashy sage. “Life under the sea is better than anything you've got up there.”

Without either of the people involved in the conversation noticing, a light shower of grey snow began to fall. It sifted down around them, settling in hair and on the ground, only to immediately melt. It was as though no heart was in the precipitation.

“Today,” said Hiccup with a sigh and a glance toward the horizon, “I believe you.”

“But what is troubling you?”

Before the brown-haired young man could do more than open his mouth to speak, a voice answered the question for him.

“You're talking about me, aren't you?”

Both the merman and human’s heads swivelled around to see Jack walking up, clearly just having landed. He kept his gaze down, to the scrubby grass and his bare feet.

“Jack!” Hiccup exclaimed, rising off the saddle he'd been using as a bench and rushing toward his friend. “You came back. Are you alright?”

It was a few moments before Jack spoke. Keeping his eyes lowered, he fidgeted with his feet in the dirt and rolled his staff between his long fingers. Then he sighed.

“No,” he said. “But... I need to confess... something.”

A frown marred Hiccup’s face and he half glanced to one side, a habitual gesture to seek reassurance from Toothless's presence. The black reptile was still playing with the sea dragons however, and was of no use to him.

“Confess?” Said Neiro, from the water, his expression guarded.

Without a word or a glance at the merman, Jack nodded.

Hiccup felt unable to make anything of the frosty immortal's confusing behaviour and words. Haltingly, Jack approached the water’s edge and crouched down so as to be on a level with the merman. Neiro regarded him without anything of what he was thinking appearing on his face.

“Well?” Said the merman, after a long moment of silence. “What is it you have to say?”

“My name is Jack Frost,” said the white haired young man, his eyes remaining on his feet. “And I've done something... bad. To your people. And when anyone harms someone else, they have to be brought to justice.”

“What you're saying doesn't make sense,” said the Neiro, all trace of laughter and playfulness gone. “Hiccup, do you know anything about this?”

“I... no, nothing,” said the chief's son, staring at Jack.

“Hiccup doesn't know anything about what I did,” said the huddled figure, his gaze fixed as though anchored to the grass. “No one does.”

“Then speak,” said Neiro, his voice gentle. “What have you done? It cannot have been as bad as you fear.”

There was silence, except for the chatter of the gossip of merfolk, the splashing of the waves, and of the dragons. Hiccup moved forward to sit on the ground near his friend, facing him. If this was something Jack felt he needed to do, then the dragon rider would support him. The brown haired young man knew all too well the pain of not being allowed to speak what was on your mind. He knew the importance of being listened to.

“I...” began Jack. “I travel the world a lot. I’ve come across many interesting things in my time. One day... I met a mermaid.”

“You did?” Hiccup blurted out, in surprise. “When? Why didn't you tell me?”

“Allow him to speak his tale, son of Stoick,” said the merman, holding out a hand.

“Yes,” said Jack, his voice a monotone. “I met a mermaid. She was the first person to ever acknowledge me. Everybody else can’t see me. But she shared with me that that's because they’re human.”

Although he felt the urge to interrupt again, Hiccup kept silent this time. He knew, of course, about the strange condition where no one could see or hear Jack. It snowed on the high and the low alike, but not a soul had ever acknowledged the source of the snow and frost.

Neither of the young men had been able to determine why Hiccup could see and hear Jack. He'd been able to ever since they first met and, more importantly, ever since Jack had first seen Hiccup. Toothless could also see and hear the white haired young man, but he was a dragon. This made sense to Hiccup.

“She... talked to me,” continued Jack. “And I showed her what I could do.”

Lifting the staff, but keeping his gaze lowered, Hiccup could see Jack had closed his eyes. What was so terrible that the white haired young man was afraid even to say the words?

“It was an accident,” said Jack, after a long pause, eyes still closed. “Whatever you think of me, you have to believe that. I never meant to hurt anyone.”

“Well yes,” said Hiccup, trying to smile. “I know you. He'd never hurt anyone,” he added, turning to Neiro.

The look on the merman’s face stilled the words on the dragon rider’s tongue. He was staring at Jack with a mixture of anticipation and another emotion Hiccup couldn't figure out. The brown haired young man was hardly able to believe the dangerous turn the day had taken.

“I... trapped her in the ice,” said Jack, without warning, his voice continuing in a monotone. “I tried to save her, but I could only... create ice, not melt it.”

Even in his shock over this statement, Hiccup glanced over at the merman who'd been the only aquatic witness to this confession. The sea-bound figure was still, the expression unchanged, but his eyes were hard as stone under a cold ocean. Neiro leaned forward as Jack finally looked up and their eyes met.

“And the name of this child of the sea, who you... trapped?” said the fierce merman.

Tensing his legs to spring up, Hiccup glanced at Jack. He seemed transfixed by Neiro’s gaze, his mouth open slightly, and silent. The human knew that if the merman tried to attack, they could both likely get away. It pained him, however, to consider conflict between him and the other races that lived near Berk.

“H-her name was Tora Mazzal,” said Jack. “I only heard it once, but-”

“You never forgot,” said Neiro, nodding, his features softening. He relaxed a few inches back in the water, abandoning the threatening posture he'd held.

Feeling his shoulders and hands release tension he'd not realized he'd been holding, Hiccup sighed. Something had changed, though he wasn't clear on what.

“Neiro,” began the chief's son, but the merman held up a hand.

“Jack Frost,” said Neiro, “it is a crime to take the life of any creature you don't intend to eat. However, if you speak the truth, and Tora Mazzal died at your hands, then let me, on behalf of all my kinfolk, express my deepest gratitude.”

The ice blue eyes of Jack flew wide and he glanced toward his friend. Hiccup stared at the merman, but could see no clue as to what this proclamation meant.

“What are you talking about?” Said Hiccup when he realized Jack wasn't able to speak.

“It seems that I too owe you a story,” said Neiro.

The merman lowered his eyes and stared at his clasped hands, his tail beating the water gently. Then he looked up, and into Jack’s face.

“You may be aware that my people do not have the most favourable reputation among the humans,” Neiro began. “And that is understandable... from a certain perspective.”

“The humans of Berk know your people are peace-loving and hail them as friends,” said Hiccup, unable to stop himself.

Smiling slightly, Neiro extended a hand to the brown haired young man, and gestured for him to be calm.

“This I know, son of Stoick,” he said. “Please, let me finish my tale.”

Nodding, Hiccup settled back and listened.

“If you were to inquire, you would discover that it is the actions of a very few of my race that have caused our reputation to become so tainted,” Neiro continued. “I have ever found it astonishing how little it takes to change the minds of so many. But I digress. One of the worst offenders, and indeed someone who sought always to inflict harm on humans, was Tora Mazzal. She killed without conscience and delighted in the harm she brought.”

“It was only when humanity struck back that she began to regret her actions,” said the merman, his expression stony as he spoke. “By then it was largely too late. She lived in a remote lake and because of the many deaths she had caused, human beings avoided that place.”

“They did not avoid all lakeshores however,” said Neiro, his expression growing hard again. “My kind are no longer found in lakes or even salt marshes, because of humans. The only place where we could escape the spears and nets is the ocean. We can go deep, deeper than those who hunt us.”

“Now, however,” concluded the merman, turning to Jack, “Toral Mazzal has at last been held accountable for her crimes.”

Turning to look at his friend, Hiccup saw Jack nod, his expression eased slightly. His shoulders dropped a small amount.

“You do not seem to believe me,” Neiro stated after a long pause during which no one else seemed inclined to speak.

“I believe you,” said Jack, nodding, his eyes on the ground. Then he raised them and looked directly at the merman. “I do. That doesn't change the fact that I still... did it.”

Tilting his head to one side, Neiro was silent for a few moments, then nodded.

“Yes,” he said. “You did it. That is in the past. My culture’s values are satisfied that her death was necessary and were any of us capable, we would have carried out the task ourselves. Without mercy and without regret.”

Blinking, Jack looked, for the first time since he'd returned to Berk after his outburst, at Hiccup. The brown haired chief’s son smiled at his friend and shrugged.

“You feel bad,” he began, “and I understand. I think Neiro does too, in his own way.”

“I am not human,” said the merman. “I have no comprehension of this guilt you seem to experience over a justified execution.”

“A-anyway,” said Hiccup hurriedly, reaching out for Jack’s shoulders and steering him into a walk away from the water. “The one thing he said that I completely understand is it happened a long time ago. Right?”

“Yes,” said Jack with a slight sigh, but the tension was beginning to disappear from his face. “Yes, it did.”

“And it wasn't your fault,” said Hiccup.

“No, I guess it really wasn't,” said the immortal, nodding and standing a little straighter as they walked.

“And you feel really bad about it,” said the dragon rider.

“I do,” said Jack, turning to look at his friend. “If there was any way I could take back what I did...”

“I know,” said Hiccup. “But you can't. So just... let it be in the past.”

For a moment Jack looked as though he was about to speak. Then he simply nodded and offered his friend a weak smile.

“Thanks, Hiccup,” he said, beginning to look more like his old self. “It's been on my mind for a long time.”

Unsure what to say, the dragon rider simply nodded, smiling gently. Then, without warning, a large, black, and wet snout was forced between the two, and Toothless's enormous, reproachful eyes flicked from one to the other. It was only then that Hiccup realized the dragon had been trailing them, and muttering to himself.

“Oh I'm sorry, bud,” said the brown haired young man. “Were we ignoring... _a dragon_?”

“Heartless monsters,” put in Jack, grinning, “to ignore a dragon.”

Turning, the Night Fury expressed himself with a lick of his unusually sticky tongue. Or tried to. The flat, moist swipe met only air as Jack darted upward and into the wind.

Heavy claws immediately sunk deep into the turf and Toothless launched himself into the air. Both wings extended, shoving at the air as the dragon grabbed for the fleeing immortal.

One pale foot slipped out of range as Toothless plummeted back to earth. As he growled playfully and prepared to leap higher this time, Hiccup grabbed for one of his ears and whispered urgently into it.

The two turned, the human running on his mismatched feet, the dragon leaping ahead. Soon they were launched into the air, united in flight as they were meant to be. And Jack glided alongside them into a joyfully blue sky.


End file.
